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Theme model 8
Theme-model VIII.—DESCRIPTION OF SEV¬ERAL MOODS, PLACES, OR SOUNDS. The last two theme-models were organized by gathering around one person or one place, motives of many different kinds. Theme-model VIII. which follows is made by repeating the same motive several times, so as to describe not one but several places, modes of life, moods, etc. The following selection from Brown¬ing's Saul shows how the outline for a theme may be made by repeating several times the same descrip¬tion-Motive,— in this selection, the description of music. The situation in Saul represents the king as hav¬ing withdrawn into his tent in a fit of despondency. David has been summoned to try upon him the effect of his music ; and he tells later to a listener of the different kinds of music he tried in order to overcome Saul's depression of mind. This scene is described in I. Samuel xvi., 14-23. Then I tuned my harp — took off the lilies we twine round its chords Lest they snap 'neath the stress of the noontide — those sunbeams like swords ! And I first played the tune all our sheep know, as, one after one, So docile they come to the pen-door till folding be done. They are white and untorn by the bushes, for lo, they have fed Where the long grasses stifle the water within the stream's bed ; And now one after one seeks its lodging, as star follows star Into eve and the blue far above us,—so blue and so far ! — Then the tune, for which quails on the cornland will each leave his mate To fly after the player ; then, what makes the crickets elate Till for boldness they fight one another.: and then, what has weight To set the quick jerboa a-musing outside his sand house — There are none such as he for a wonder, half bird and half mouse ! God made all the creatures and gave them our love and our fear, To give sign, we and they are his children, one family here., Then I played the help-tune of our reapers, their Wine- song, when hand Grasps at hand, eye lights eye in good friendship, and great hearts expand And grow one in the sense of this world's life.—And then, the last song When the dead man is praised on his journey—" Bear, bear him along, "With his few faults shut up like dead flowerets! Are balm-seeds not here "To console us ? The land has none left such as he on the bier. "Oh, would we might keep thee, my brother ! "—And then, the glad chant Of the marriage,— first go the young maidens, next, she whom we vaunt As the beauty,the pride of our dwelling.— And then, the great march Wherein man runs to man to assist him and buttressan arch Nought can break; who shall harm them, our friends? Then, the chorus intoned As the Levites go up to the altar in glory enthroned. But I stopped here : for here in the darkness Saul groaned. Another poem which repeats the same motive as that used in the above quotation is Alexander's Feast, by Dryden. SUGGESTIONS.—What is the first kind of music described in Saul? What is the second, and so on What expressions are used for transition from one description to the next ? What is the fundamental quality of each kind of music described ? Do you notice any fundamental or minor devices in this quotation ? Theme-model VIII. in Outline. The num¬ber of the paragraphs in the following outline is not fixed. Seven paragraphs are suggested, because, as a rule, we must not make descriptive themes very long. First paragraph — the situation. Second paragraph — description of sound, mood, place; character, or any other one motive that the subject calls for. Paragraphs three to six — repetition of whatever motive is chosen for the second paragraph. Seventh paragraph — a return to the situation, as in the conclusion of Theme-models II., III., and IV. Exercise Write according to Theme-model VIII. a descrip¬tion upon any of the following subjects, all of which repeat a motive. Introduce each with a situation in dialogue and return in the last paragraph to the situation, as in the conclusion of Theme-model II. Use a different fundamental device in each of the descriptive paragraphs. 1. Imagine a small child telling some one of the mode of life of his father, of his mother, of an older sister or brother, of himself. A theme on this subject describes for us the mode of life of several people. Some of Riley's child poems may give suggestions for this theme. 2. Represent a traveler as describing to a listener different places he has visited. If you have not traveled yourself, you must depend upon books or upon what others can tell you of distant places. Imagine a child giving another a series of char¬acter sketches of the teachers whom he remembers most distinctly. 3. Imagine yourself looking out from a window upon a street in which people are passing. Describe to a person in the room who cannot see the street, the personal appearance of different passers-by. Introduce the theme with a situation in dialogue , and use a different fundamental device in each paragraph. The following quotation from Scott's Ivanhoe may show you how to be. gin such a description : "And I must lie here like a bedridden monk," exclaimed Ivanhoe, while the game that gives me freedom or death is played out by the hand of others ! — Look from the window once again, kind maiden, but beware that you are not marked by the archers • beneath.— Look out once more and tell me if they yet advance to the storm What dost thou see, Rebecca?"